Vuelta a Espana 2016 Stage 19

Chris Froome slashed heavily into Nairo Quintana’s lead in the Vuelta a Espana today, after winning the Individual Time Trial (ITT) by more than two minutes over his chief rival.

Overall, the Team Sky rider won the 37 kilometer ITT by 44 seconds over Jonathan Castroviejo (Movistar), followed by Tobias Ludvigsson (Giant- Alpecin), who rounded out the podium with the third fastest time – 1:24 down on Froome.

“I gave the time trial everything I had. I don’t think there’s much more I could have done today. I left it all out on the road,” said Froome after the stage. “It’s my last race of the year and I’m happy to still be in good condition.

“There’s still one more really tough day of racing tomorrow. Let’s see. Of course Quintana still has more than one minute of an advantage. We’re going to keep fighting all the way.

“We’ll see (what happens) tomorrow and I’ll speak with my teammates tonight. Quintana with Movistar has a really good team around him and it’s going to be difficult to beat him.”

On riding against the clock Froome added: “For sure you don’t enjoy (riding a time trial), but you get a lot of satisfaction when you hear you’re setting the fastest time. It’s the whole reason you race – the feeling of going head to head with your rivals.”

Race Highlights

Before Froome finished the stage, it looked as though Castroviejo would claim the day’s victory, having been the fastest rider by a significant margin all day.

In the end however, the Spanish rider had to settle for second place.

As expected, the general classification received a good shake-up today, with Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) benefitting from a strong ride to move up to third in the overall classification, as Esteban Chaves (Orica-BikeExchange) slipped to fourth after finishing 3:13 down on Froome.

Also slipping down the leader board, was Chaves’s teammate, Simon Yates, who dropped from fifth to sixth, after Andrew Talansky (Cannondale-Drapac) put in a good ride to finish the stage in seventh place and move up the GC.

Riders will face the final mountain stage on Saturday, which features a 193 kilometer route from Benidorm to a summit finish atop the Alto de Aitana.

Froome and his Sky teammates will have to throw everything they have at Quintana in order the wrest the red leader’s jersey from the Colombian rider.